You have requested our opinion concerning whether the Railroad
Commission of Texas is empowered to waive the newspaper
publication requirements contained in section 43(a) of the Public
Utility Regulatory Act, article 1446c, V.T.C.S., [hereinafter
Utility Act] and allow a utility to send notice or proposed rate
changes requests directly to retepayers through bill inserts or
to otherwise give actual notice to a utility ratepayer.

Statutes regulating notice that contain liberal construction
provisions, see section 89 of the Utility Act, are to be
construed in favor of the person or persons to whom notice is to
be given. United Benefit Fire Insurance Co. v. Metropolitan
Plumbing Co., 363 S.W.2d 843 (Tex. Civ. App.--El Paso 1962, no
writ); Phinney v. Langdeau, 337 S.W.2d 393 (Tex. Civ. App.--Austin 1960, writ ref'd. n.r.e.). If the statute prescribes the
method by which notice must be given, that method must be
followed with reasonable strictness. Rotello v. Brazos County
Water Control and Improvement District Number One, 574 S.W.2d 208
(Tex. Civ. App.--Houston [1st Dist.] 1978), rev'd on other
grounds, 598 S.W.2d 227 (Tex. 1980); Clayton v. Newton, 524
S.W.2d 368 (Tex. Civ. App.--Ft. Worth 1975, no writ); see Johnson
Service Co. v. Climate Control Contractors, Inc., 478 S.W.2d 643
(Tex. Civ. App.--Austin 1972, no writ). The language contained
in section 43(a) of the Utility Act addressing the notice a
utility must give when it intends to change its rates is
mandatory, not discretionary: '. . . notice shall be given by
publication in conspicuous form and place of a notice to the
public of such proposed change once in each week for four
successive weeks in a newspaper having general circulation in
each county containing territory affected by the proposed change
. . ..' (Emphasis added). Pursuant to the above cited rule of
construction concerning statutory notice provisions, it is our
opinion that the statute does not grant the commission the
discretion to provide for a substitute method of notice. Of
course, the commission may permit additional notice by billing
inserts.